Quote:
Originally Posted by Phantom
If you buy a "Name Brand" machine at a Big Box store remember that it is not going to be of the same quality you would get from a dealership or dedicated retail store. This is true of not only for snow blowers but also major appliances.
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This is not a universal truth my any means. Yes, large retailers sometimes negotiate to have a model made specifically for them. Many times this is for "price matching" guarantees. If Home Depot is the only one selling the Home Depot model of an Ariens snow blower then of course they can guarantee they have the lowest price because nobody else has that model.
In some cases cheaper/alternative parts may be used. A dishwasher might have a plastic tub instead of stainless steel. A snowblower might not have heated handgrips or might not come with an accessories kit (shovel to clear clogged auger, spare shear bolts, etc.).
As others have said in this thread, a snowblower is one of those things that if you try to get the absolute cheapest model or version, you'll likely pay for it in the long run. Major brands also don't want to risk their brand image on selling garbage products, so it's not like every product at Lowe's or HD is going to be cheapified unit that can't be repaired.
I bought my latest snowblower, an Ariens, at Home Depot about 8 years ago. I've purchased replacement parts (belts mostly) at the local outdoor equipment place that also sells Ariens without a problem. I've also repaired an MTD unit I had in the past, as well as done some repairs and tune-ups for friends and neighbors on snow blowers. They all have pretty much the same auger drive components, same mechanisms and setups for the transmission and so forth. I took apart a 25 year old Ariens that was pretty much the same basic guts as a modern Craftsman or MTD.
If I were buying a new unit today, I'd look for power to width ratio (eg: biggest engine for a given clearing width) and the engine itself. I've had very good luck with Tecumseh cold-weather engines, so that's my personal preference.